TURNING ON CANDLE POWER JEWS LEARN TO LOVE UNUSUAL MENORAHS.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer Many Hanukkah revelers, whose eight-day holiday ends tonight, have added a modern touch to the tradition by turning to menorahs featuring basketball, puppy dog or other ornamentation ornamentation In music, the addition of notes for expressive and aesthetic purposes. For example, a long note may be ornamented by repetition or by alternation with a neighboring note (“trill”); a skip to a nonadjacent note can be filled in with the intervening . ``You have basketball menorahs? Oh, my God!,'' said Rhonda Finkel of Tarzana, selecting a hooped candelabra for her daughters, Ashley and Rebecca, from more than 180 menorahs for sale at Shalom House in Woodland Hills. ``How cute is that?'' Jews are now adding whimsy whim·sy also whim·sey n. pl. whim·sies also whim·seys 1. An odd or fanciful idea; a whim. 2. A quaint or fanciful quality: stories full of whimsy. and spice to their traditional Hanukkiah - the nine-branch candelabra lit for eight nights in December as a symbol of Jewish dedication and thanksgiving. Retailers report that, in recent years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time faithful have flocked to stores selling artsy art·sy adj. art·si·er, art·si·est Informal Arty. menorahs to highlight the Festival of Lights. Prices range from $30 into the thousands. Artists are finding new meaning in Hanukkah, not merely through making menorahs mirroring popular culture, but by fashioning Hanukkah lamps that explore their personal ideals and Jewish identity Jewish identity is the subjective state of perceiving oneself as as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Jewish identity, by this definition, does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or sociological . ``They are on a kind of quest in modern-day society to find meaning in the celebration of the holiday,'' said Grace Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. Grossman, senior curator for Judaica and Americana at the Skirball Cultural Center  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . , whose museum has a collection of 200 antique and modern menorahs. Like boats? Try one of a range of Noah's Ark Noah’s Ark preserves Noah’s family and animals from flood. [O.T.: Genesis 6:7–9] See : Refuge menorahs, fashioned by cottage artists out of ceramics or welded steel. Giraffes included. ``These are fabulous, handmade by an artist in Vermont, from our hippie days,'' said David Cooperman, one of three generations who have run House of Shalom since 1971, admiring a particularly flamboyant ark. Around him stand candelabra styled from the schoolyard to the synagogue - jump rope menorahs, puppy dog menorahs, butterfly menorahs, choo-choo-train menorahs, soccer menorahs, baseball menorahs, all sports menorahs, American flag menorahs. There are menorahs of Lower East Side New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Menorahs of rabbis, of shtetls. Of ``Fiddler on the Roof.'' Of klezmer klezmer (klĕz`mər), form of instrumental folk music developed in the Eastern European Jewish community. The style had its beginnings in the Middle Ages; its name is a Yiddishized version of the Hebrew klei zemir quartets. Of temples during the Holocaust. And menorahs of Jerusalem and of the Promised Land. ``I have a mah-jongg one - my wife plays mah-jongg,'' said Irving Gorelick, 75, of Encino, chuckling. ``Always luck. Gorelick said his family has five Hanukkiahs: the mah-jongg menorah menorah Multibranched candelabra used by Jews during the festival of Hanukkah. It holds nine candles (or has nine receptacles for oil). Eight of the candles stand for the eight days of Hanukkah—one is lit the first day, two the second, and so on. ; an antique menorah, with lions, passed down from his mother's family in Lithuania; a Jerusalem Wall menorah, a souvenir from Israel; and a wooden two-by-four menorah made by his children in Hebrew school. ``I know people who are collectors,'' said Abi Mottahedeh, owner of Abi's Judaica & Gifts of Tarzana. Mottahedeh says that, in the past five years, artsy menorahs have really taken off. ``I have several of my customers who have more than 80 to 100.'' Rabbi Steven Conn of Congregation Beth Shalom in Santa Clarita said the Jewish tradition has a wonderful legacy of borrowing from the surrounding culture. ``That's what keeps Judaism vital and vigorous,'' he said. ``I love to see the puppy dog menorahs, or the baseball menorahs or the Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty great symbolic structure in New York harbor. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : America Statue of Liberty perhaps the most famous monument to independence. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : Freedom menorahs, because they show strong Jewish creativity at work.'' For the past 15 years, the Coopermans have searched far and wide for artsy menorahs cast in brass, made of silver, etched in glass, fired in kilns, hammered out of tin or fashioned out of aluminum. A $135 traveling menorah pops out of a 1-inch-by-2-inch case. A $3,000 oil-burning menorah in sterling silver and anodized aluminum is weighted by magnets and etched with a medieval inscription, ``On the Wonders and the Miracles.'' ``Having beautiful menorahs helps create an environment in the home that creates a sense of pride in the (Jewish) culture,'' said Cooperman. ``Every year, we're finding more and more artists. It's really a treat to go out in the country and find new pieces.'' It was the menorah of puppy dogs at Abi's Judaica that caught the eye of Andrea Manick, who said she didn't put out her silver menorah this year because ``it wasn't exciting.'' What's needed, she said, was better Jewish decor - cuter, prettier, more colorful - that really stands out. ``That's adorable, I love that, that's sooo cute,'' said Manick, 46, of Agoura Hills, before plunking down $60 on puppy dogs. ``That is the cutest thing I've ever seen.'' Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) David Cooperman of the Shalom House in Woodland Hills shows off some of his selection of unorthodox menorahs. (2) This menorah with a basketball theme is part of Shalom House's selection. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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